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Question: Have any of your
family members died? If so, what did they die from? What do you remember of
their death, and what were the circumstances of their death?
There are members of
my family that have died. My mother and my father have both passed away and my
cousin Jackie Skewes has passed away. I’ve also had a number of aunts and
uncles and cousins and all of my grandparents that have passed away.
I will tell a little
bit about each one of them starting with my Grandparents. My grandpa on my
father’s side, George Alma Poulson, died when I was three years old and I don’t
remember very much of him except one vague memory where I sat on his lap and that’s
all I can remember of him. Of course I know a number stories about him that
were told to me throughout my life but as far as remembering personally that
was all I remember.
My grandmother on my
father side, Rozilla Johnson Poulson, was the next one of the grandparents that passed away. She passed away
when I was 10 years old. My most fond memories of her was going to her home when
I was in kindergarten and first grade. I loved going over there because she always
had cookies and rice pudding that I got to eat until mom came to pick me up to
go home. I also had cousins that lived right next door to her so we were able
to play a lot between when I got there and when mom got there. Grandma always
spent Christmas at our house and it was the day after Christmas in 1963
when she passed away. She had been in our home for several weeks prior to that
because of a stroke and we were taking care of her so each day when we got home
we were able to go in talk to her. Mother said that she always felt that grandma didn’t pass away on Christmas Day so that she wouldn’t
spoil our Christmas that year so instead she passed away the day after. It is an easy
year for me to remember because in November of that year just before grandma
passed away was when Pres. John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas Texas. When I went on my mission I was called to the Texas North mission which was later
renamed the Texas Dallas Mission. While they’re in Dallas I got to visit the
area of where the assassination took place and was reminded of that time in my life
when I lost the president of the United States and my grandmother at almost the
same time.
My grandfather
Charles Savaren Hansen was the next grandparent that I lost. He died when I was
14 years old. I had received my patriarchal blessing from him the year before
and remember him very well because of the kindness that he always showed when
we went to visit them. I still remember grandpa always in his bib overalls when
we would get there from Duchesne and he would be out doing the chores and come
in to see us. Grandpa Hansen died because of a heart attack that he had after
trying to push the car out of the snow bank when he was on his way with grandma
to a wedding reception.
I knew grandma Mary
Alvira Hansen the longest and she died when our oldest son Ben was almost 2
years old. My father and grandma Hansen both died within about a year of each
other. Grandma passed away in April 1977 and dad passed away in February 1978. I
have a picture of Dad with Ben at the Centerfield cemetery when we were at grandma
Hansen’s funeral.
I’ll always remember
the dark black hair that grandma had. It never did go gray until right at the
very end of her life. Grandma had moved to Orem Utah a few years after grandpa
died and so we got to visit with her a lot more. In fact the day
that I bought the wedding ring for Marie we were out visiting with grandma. There is one funny fact that I remember about grandma Hansen, it is
strange some of the things we remember, grandma once said when we were visiting
in Centerfield, “you only have to use four squares of toilet paper when you go
to the bathroom”. Apparently we were using way too much toilet paper and that
used to seem kind of strange to me that she would say that except now that I
have grandchildren and they almost plug up the toilets because of the amount of paper that they sometimes use, I can see why she did.
All of my aunts and
uncles except two have now passed away and I could probably take quite a lot of
time and tell you about each of them and what I remember of them and a little about them but I think I will do that later. I will need some time to be able to
make sure that I know that order in which they passed away. I do remember one
thing however that Alma said just after my uncle Monty passed away. He was the
oldest child in dad’s family and was the last one to pass away and Alma did not
want that to happened to her. I hope to make that wish of hers come true since
she is around 11 years my senior.
